[lit-ideas] Re: Scientific Method Dead! Postmodernism Not the Villain! Could it be?
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:29:27 +0900
On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 4:27 PM, Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> General Systems Theory, at least as expressed by thinkers like Ken Wilbur,
> might equally suggest that the scientific method is not dead, but, as with
> all evolving holons, has merely achieved a greater level of complexity and
> self-organization.
>
> I spoke with a computer scientist several years ago. He had a very low
> impression of both "information ontology" and AI. He referred to heuristics
> as "mere tricks." After all, somebody has to write the code, and the
> universe will always leak through the code. The universe will always leak
> through the code because it is smarter than we are.
>
> I don't know that the universe is smarter than we are, but I am considering
the possibility that neither holons nor "somebody has to write the code"
really gets to the heart of the claim being made here. Over on anthro-L I
wrote the following:
Conventional [science] [a.k.a. hypothesis testing] is, indeed, based on
theory, in the form of propositions {if x then y}. The theory is tested by
looking for cases in which {not y and x}, thus falsifying the theory. Data
mining does not involve theory in this sense. The algorithms that Amazon
were, indeed, constructed by intelligent agents (some very smart people,
indeed); but the algorithms do not predict the output and are totally
indifferent to the causes or meanings involved in the purchase of particular
combinations of books. In effect the intelligent agents are the Deists' deus
absconditus, the absent god who set things in motion but is no longer
directly concerned with his creation, just waiting to see what happens.
I do, however, take it as given that we human animals are congenitally
unable to avoid making up stories to account for patterns generated by these
or other algorithms. As long as we are humble and don't mistake our plots
for underlying realities, there is no great harm and a great deal of
pleasure in that.
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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